I'm a multiple-time entrepreneur, living and working in the heart of Silicon Valley for the past quarter century. Currently, I spend most of my time working on a new startup in the online education arena. I've got a BA in political science and an MBA from Stanford. Having been around technology and business on the leading edge, I write mostly about what's new and what's coming for companies and the country. You can find me on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ You can e-mail me at forbes_at_rogodotnet

When you’re trying to reinvent something that everyone already knows a lot about, you inevitably meet with a lot of negative reaction in the press and public. Look back to 2007 when Apple introduced the iPhone to an already “mature” cell-phone industry: “I can’t believe the hype being given to iPhone. I just have to wonder who will want one of these things,” said Microsoft’s Richard Sprague. More than 300 million iPhones later the answer is, “pretty much everyone.” It’s perhaps wise to keep that in mind as Tesla attempts to convince people to abandon cars powered by petroleum products for purely electric cars. That mission is “dead on arrival” if you are among the many who agree with Business Insider’s Henry Blodget., not to mention countless others.

As this space discussed in Part 1, no one car can do everything, but pretty much all cars sold today — even partial plug-ins like the Chevrolet Volt — have a common attribute that’s so simple and routine we all take it for granted: When the needle is approaching “ E”, we find a nearby station, pump all the gas we want and are back on the road. We’re good to go for the next 200-500 miles or so, depending on the car we drive, and the whole process almost always takes less than 15 minutes, even at a busy station.

Electric vehicles just don’t work that way

All the press coverage around the New York Times story, CNN’s subsequent follow-up, and the attempt by a group of owners to replicate the Times route all suggest that Tesla has done a good job of creating the expectation that its new Model S can offer a gas-powered car experience. But Regina Gasser, a blogger in the Midwest goes even farther — literally — trying to take a winter roadtrip that she describes as such: “Normally a trip to and from Rochester (MN) with a stop in Dixon each way would take about 16 hours.” Unfortunately for Gasser, the trip actually lasted an excruciating two and a half days.

Realistically, the NYT trip that started this whole kerfuffle in the first place is about as far as you can travel in a Tesla. The top-end models have about 265 miles of range, reduced in the winter due to slightly lower battery performance but mostly the need to heat the car. Thanks to Tesla’s Supercharger stations — a network of high-powered chargers that are located on major freeways — you can recharge about 50% in 30 minutes and close to full in an hour. In extreme cold, this means you might only be able to put about 250 miles on the car in a day, even with a recharge stop. In more temperate climates, you could make the 380-mile trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles with just a single leisurely lunch at Harris Ranch and arrive with enough power leftover to make it out to dinner.

While a number of Tesla owners have made that SF-to-LA run several times already, it’s quite frankly inconvenient. If you want to drive 75 mph, like most of the traffic on I-5, you’ll likely need a second stop or one really long one. If your goal is more ambitious, say San Diego from tony Marin County, you have to really manage the where, when and how long of charging. When viewed this way, the car might seem like a huge pain in the rear.

But these scenarios — while they make for great stories of stranded NYT reporters or freezing cold nights in Minnesota spent looking for what was likely going to be inadequate charging capability anyway — largely miss the point. There’s a lot of things a Tesla can do already that make it one of the best cars on the road and a close to no-compromises vehicle for its owner. It’s no surprise the company has more than 10,000 people with paid “reservations” to take delivery of a vehicle as soon as Tesla can build them one.

35 miles each way, a typical "long commute"

Scenario 1: A Bay Area commute

In a country where 80% of commutes are 20 miles or less each way, this 35-mile one-way trip would be a long one at nearly twice that length. On a Model S, you could get there comfortably even on the smallest-battery configuration in any weather, driving very aggressively. You wouldn’t need to find a charger at the office, which is good because competition for charging resources is already a real problem at some locations. On the larger-battery models, you could charge the car overnight only twice a week. A lot of Model S buyers out here are likely using their vehicles this way already. It’s not uncommon for the well off to commute in Audi A8s, BMW 7-series or Mercedes S-class sedans, any of which can easily reach into the six figures (as can Model S).

The Tesla is whisper quiet, easily the equal of its German luxury counterparts. But it offers something they don’t. Realistically, every week you’d need to stop at a gas station and fill your fossil-fuel based car to make a commute like this. With a Tesla, those stops are a thing of the past. It’s worth mentioning that the same owner could comfortably make a trip up to wine country in the Napa Valley without worrying about finding a public charger. Heading down to Carmel from San Francisco would be a bit more challenging. You’d need to find some electricity to make it home comfortably.

About 100 miles from Manhattan, but a world away

Scenario 2: A place in the Hamptons

Leaving aside the issue of whether an Upper West Sider is likely to vacation out on the east end of Long Island, this scenario is a fairly typical vacation-home situation where it’s 100 miles from the main residence to the getaway. While this would be unthinkable for a Nissan Leaf without a charge somewhere just past Islip (and that might not be impossible sometime very soon), it’s doable for any of the variants of the Tesla. It’s so doable, in fact, that the high-capacity variant could likely make it there and back without much difficulty. Over the course of a weekend of fun, even some standard at-home recharging on 110 volts would give one plenty of cushion. Obviously, the Hamptons homeowner with a Tesla will likely install a 240-volt charger, as most EV owners do, and return back to Manhattan in style with “half a tank” to spare.

Scenario 3: Real life

Sunday: Go to Sam’s club, pick up the kids from soccer, grab takeout for dinner. Monday: Go to work, get the dry cleaning on the way home. Tuesday: More work, but also “date night” for mom and dad. And more or the same for the rest of the week. At no point are you driving more than 50-75 miles in a day. In fact, only 1% of drives ever exceed 100 miles. For perspective, that’s fewer than 4 days a year where you are even thinking about the fact your car has a battery that might have a range issue. This isn’t some science-fiction scenario, this is statistical data from the Department of Transportation. In a two-car family where the other car runs on gasoline, you can reduce those 4 worrisome days down to zero by taking the plain old car. But with a Model S, if your trip involved going from say Los Angeles to Las Vegas, you could take it in your Tesla (just be prepared to hit the Supercharger in Barstow).

No, the car can’t go absolutely everywhere and perhaps Tesla deserves some criticism for helping foster the belief it can. But this is also a company that basically has made it clear that public charging in and around town isn’t something important either. For Tesla, the Supercharger is something to use to make the occasional long trip; the rest of the time you charge at home. And during that “rest of the time” you are driving a vehicle that matches the acceleration of competitors from BMW but with instantaneous torque that only electric vehicles can deliver. You have the best passenger and cargo room of any vehicle in its class and style that subjectively is the equal of the competition.

It’s true, even if Tesla achieves its goal of selling 20,o00 cars this year, that’s a drop in the bucket — around 0.1% of U.S. auto sales. And for now, only Tesla is making any serious attempt to sell electric cars that do anything more than go 70-80 miles before requiring a charge. It’s easy to dismiss selling something really pricey to only a few customers as unimportant, “dead on arrival” or a “niche”. Heck, just ask Apple. But it’s quite possible that Tesla is onto something much more significant. More on that in an upcoming installment of the series.

In Part 3, a look at Tesla’s financials after its first quarter selling Model S.

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If you are even the tinsiest bit concerned about mother earth and global warming, seeing a tesla on the road makes you feel guilty and ashamed. For driving the smelly, pollution spewing, resource hogging, earth destroying monster that is a gasoline powered automobile.

I think most of us feel a little this way. I think one or two more iterations and many folks who can afford a Model S or the upcoming Model X will buy it. If Tesla can come out with a 30 or 35k family sedan, they will probably be able to sell all they could possibly make.

Sky’s the limit for this company. I think. Though of course lack of sufficient financing could doom them in the short run.

I don’t get why they don’t just cave in a little and add an option for a small diesel power plant , something that can run on biodiesel . A 5 gallon tank would extend the range hundreds > maybe thousands of miles . You could either use it while driving to prolong shut down or ” idle ” it during breaks ; like arriving at work or some similar destination . With technology I am sure they could program it to start an stop at the right time automatically without fear of some one being able to steal the car . If I ever achieve my dream of owning a Model S I will surely attempt the upgrade any way .

I think it’s about complexity (and ultimately then emissions control on top of that). The Volt works more or less the way you describe, less battery than a Tesla, a small engine and fuel capacity. But it order to achieve that, it has an entire internal-combustion car in there.

BMW is trying to do a smaller, simpler “range extender” for one of its electric vehicles. A future Volt-like vehicle might also be simpler on the gasoline side than today’s. You raise a good question, but for Tesla’s part the answer is probably, “even better and cheaper batteries are coming”. Other manufacturers probably don’t agree.

Joker; you would accept a $3-5,000 option just for those occasional jaunts that exceed the range? because that is what a small diesel power plant implementation would cost.

rent a gas car and save yourself $4900! My LEAF only gets about 88 miles in Summer and 74 in Winter and I rarely if ever have to park it. maybe 10 times a year to take the gas car and yes i do do the quick charge but usually no more than 10-15 minutes which only gives me a 30-40 mile boost but that is enough to get me where i need to go

Great write up on the utility of EVs. One thing you didn’t mention, though. They are a blast to drive, especially the Tesla. In my experience, once a car enthusiast gets behind the wheel of a Tesla, they see the potential and become a convert.

“if you want to drive 75 mph” then get on the wallet, pull out $70 for gas and then go.

i drove 65 mph on the very same road and had ZERO issues with traffic so this “gotta drive 75 mph to keep from being run over” is BS. nothing more.

as usual another article on how it doesnt work. dont you think we already have enough of them?

lets do one on bikes.

now, despite the fact that bikes

have no monthly payments no insurance payments no fuel costs are great exercise which would probably drop your health maintenance costs as well…

they cant get me to work in 20 minutes like my car does. so that means they are worthless?

I have a LEAF which does not get nearly the range of the Tesla so should i dump it? or make it work? I dont have the money to buy a Tesla so I make what i got work. if i need to drive somewhere that taxes the range of the LEAF, my choice is to wake up 15 minutes earlier or pay an extra $30-50K…

which “inconvenience” should i take? well, in my case the options are not many.

but its all about choices. the least you could do is give someone balanced information to help them make that choice

Thanks for this article too; we definitely agree with the points you’ve made. My wife’s Model S is by a very large margin the best car we’ve ever had for around-town day-to-day driving. Smooth, quiet, responsive, roomy, packed with cool tech features…and enough range we don’t even look at the battery gauge.

The single downside is, as everyone is well aware, that once-a-year road trip takes longer. But as you noted in part 1…so what? We can take another car! We still have a gas car around. A disadvantage is not really a disadvantage if you never experience it.

Last month, we took a 3,000-mile trip. Surprise, we didn’t even consider the gas car; we took the Model S. Yes, it took longer. But there were so many advantages to offset that…more room, more fun, quieter and smoother, free solar-powered fuel…it’s not that we are suffering in our electric car, it’s that we don’t WANT to drive the gas car anymore. Everybody focuses on the single negative (which doesn’t even apply to PHEVs!); but few pay attention to all of the positives, because they’ve never driven one and don’t even know what they are.

By the way, before the Model S, my wife drove a 2003 RAV4-EV, which had around 90 miles of range. Many people asked her about how “inconvenient” it must be. She always laughed – it was the most convenient car she had ever had! She never waited for a charge, never looked for a charging station, never took it in for an oil change or emissions station, never went to a gas station, and there was no maintenance other than tires and wiper blades. For four years, all she did was get in every morning and drive.

Sure, once every few months she needed to drive farther. Then we just swapped cars. Simple.

Seriously, for anybody that hasn’t driven a plug-in vehicle – you have to try it. They are very nice to drive, and very convenient. I’d drive one even if electricity wasn’t just a fraction of the price of gas.

If the Roadster can make it through Inner Mongolia and Kazakhstan, and if the Model S has higher range and even more charging options available to it than the Roadster, then it stands to reason that the Model S can also go everywhere. And really, how many road trips are longer than around the world?

Hey Mark, Do you happen to have a link to that very old claim you attribute to me in your article? If you quote me out of context, at least send me some link traffic! :-) http://blog.richardsprague.com

Almost no hit technology product, not even iPhone1 (with no 3G or app store, poor battery life and camera), is perfect right out of the gate. The key is whether the company can survive long enough to make improvements. If Tesla can’t afford to iterate the way Apple did, then do you really think their existing products will matter?

Finally, a common sense article about EVs. EVs are about the 95% of the driving we all do and take the most fuel. If I want to go long distance, I’ll just rent a gas car. With my $3000 a year savings driving my Mitsubishi i-MiEV with it’s ‘puny’ 62 mile range I can more than afford it. I don’t use my EV just for getting groceries either, I use it for a 60 mile round trip commute each and every day in Buffalo, NY. Like your article says, there are comprimises driving an EV this distance but I knew that going into this. For me, driving an EV is so important that I’m willing to be an early adopter.

Mark, I just rolled over 2,000 miles on our 3 week old Tesla S today. We also own a Nissan Leaf. our decision to go completely off gas was something we fretted over for a while. your article series is really well written! it’s rare to see such well balanced and deep thinking on this subject. I would concur with many of your conclusions, it’s really nice to see someone in the media really get it! All vehicles require some trade offs and for them, the S rewards handsomely!

I’ve had my Model S for a week now including a trip from Boston to New York and back in a snowstorm last weekend, and am learning daily how few compromises it actually requires. The biggest is up-front price. I paid far more than I ever would for a traditional internal combustion car, but I know that each year I will get a thousands of dollars back in fuel and service savings.

The Model S is replacing my Audi A4 in a two-car family with five children and an aging Honda Odyssey minivan my wife prefers. While the A4 has greater range – I’ve driven from Boston to New York and back on a tank of gas – we make many short, medium and long trips that require the minivan because the Audi can’t carry enough people and/or things comfortably.

The S not only replaces the A4, but with seating for five adults and two kids plus a trunk in the front – or extensive cargo space with the jump seats and rear seats folded down – it will substitute for the minivan on many occasions. So going forward we will put more miles on the S than on the A4 and fewer on the Odyssey, further benefiting the environment. And with a charger in our garage, the Model S starts every day with a full “tank”. I’m happy to stop for 45 minutes to an hour to supercharge and get a meal on long drives every few months, in exchange for all the time saved never having to stop for gas.